In what may be a sign that the King siblings might be close to a settlement regarding the ownership and potential sale of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, the King Estate on Thursday dismissed a 2013 lawsuit against the King Center over other properties.
The original 2013 lawsuit was filed by Martin Luther King III and Dexter King on behalf of the estate against their sister, Bernice King, CEO of the King Center, “after the results of an internal audit of the King Center showed that hundreds of items that once belonged to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - now property of the King Estate - were being housed in unsafe, unsecure conditions, and in jeopardy of fire and water damage.”
The estate, in essence, sued the King Center for the safe return of the property and for violating the terms of a 2007 licensing agreement that allowed it to house and display King memorabilia. Each of the three King siblings are the sole principles at both the King Estate and the King Center.
“It has become apparent that my brother, Martin King III, Chairman of the King Estate, has had a change of heart in recent days as it relates to the lawsuit filed in 2013.” Dexter King said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “And therefore I instructed the Estate’s attorneys to withdraw the lawsuit.”
But while this tricky family matter has been resolved, the case involving the possible sale of the peace prize and a valuable bible that Martin Luther King Jr. traveled with is still scheduled to be heard before a Fulton County Superior judge in February.
In the statement Dexter King released, he stressed, “no decisions have been made regarding the King Estate’s suit against Bernice King as it relates to ownership of Dr. King’s Nobel Peace Prize and his traveling Bible.”
He did add, however that he was hopeful that the family could resolve the issue before the public trial.
“I’m sure that that lawsuit will also be a part of our settlement discussions,” Dexter King said. “Luckily that trial is not set to begin until the end of February. But it is my hope that those issues will be resolved long before then.”
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